Americans do not actually transform most disputes into litigation.
Evidence
One might also consider whether Americans are particularly prone to resolving their disputes by taking them to court. Americans generally do not transform their disputes into litigation, although willingness to litigate varies from issue to issue. The only comparative study of the propensity to sue concludes that Americans tend to sue in cases of personal injury somewhat more often than Britons or Canadians but not more often than Australians. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2320
Categorization
- XREF: Directly counters the popular ‘litigation explosion’ / hyper-litigious American trope that recurs throughout the civil justice chapter and in legal-systems coursework on court caseloads. — connects to: Americans rarely convert their disputes into lawsuits despite high civil filing rates — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1133; Litigation selects for fringe and hard cases, not representative legal disputes — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 38; Legal disputes often turn on meaning, not facts — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 185 (+3 more)
- SHARE: The cross-national comparison (US v. Britons, Canadians, Australians) is a niche citation worth sending to someone writing on American litigiousness.
Broader Connections
- Litigation selects for fringe and hard cases, not representative legal disputes
#qualifies(1.00) — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 38 - Legal disputes often turn on meaning, not facts
#expands(0.95) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 185 - Deliberate opaqueness in dispute resolution discourages parties from litigating to judgment.
#complicates(0.95) — Lisa Bernestein, Opting out of the Legal System, 88 - Most litigation arises because the meaning of law is uncertain
#qualifies(0.95) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 195 - Litigation needs sufficiency, not truth, to proceed
#expands(0.90) — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 976